Your Turn - week of March 27, 2019

Written by Community Reports

Published: 26 March 2019

COME ON OUT!

Dear Editor:

As winter ends and we enjoy longer, sunnier days, I encourage you to head outside and explore your parks! At Precinct 4’s annual Shakespeare Festival, celebrate the work of the world’s greatest playwright with a day dedicated to live theater, delicious food, street performers, face painting and games at Burroughs Park. You might even catch me on the stage as Spearholder No. 2 in Precinct 4’s family-friendly, fast, fun and free performance of “Two Gentlemen of Verona.” Hope to see you there during Nature4Health, our newest festival at Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve; learn how to stay healthy while enjoying the outdoors. This event spotlights some of the healthy and free activities we provide in Precinct 4 parks, such as archery, canoeing, fishing and more. If you can’t attend, don’t worry. Your Trails As Parks staff provide popular recreational activities daily, along with seasonal programs throughout the year, including a Wildflower Walk at Pundt Park and blackberry jam-making at Dennis Johnston Park in March and April. I hope you enjoy the great lineup of events we have for you this spring!

Jack Cagle, CommissionerPrecinct 4

HE CAN’T HANDLE IT

Dear Editor:

D. Trump reminds me of a classmate of mine when I was in the Ph.D. program at the Univ. of Texas at Austin. We were taking a course whose goal was to have each student develop his dissertation proposal. Each student presented his proposal to the class and the other class members offered constructive criticism. One student in the class could not handle criticism. Every time his work was criticized, the student reacted angrily by attacking the critic. I thought to myself: “Fellow, unless you change your ways, you have no business going into academe, for criticism is the lifeblood of academe.”

An academician friend of mine also cannot handle criticism. He co-wrote an accounting textbook. My book (“A Thinker’s Guide to Effective Writing”) uses several sentences from their book to illustrate verbosity, and it shows a concise version of each sentence. My friend reacted horribly when he discovered my criticism of their writing. Instead of thanking me for showing him and his co-authors ways to improve their writing and their book, he insulted me (also Trump’s modus operandi).Unlike those gents, I welcome constructive criticism (offered publicly or privately – I don’t care which). I want to get it ASAP, for the sooner I learn that my thinking is faulty, the sooner I can correct it.

Melania admires Donald’s attack-mode mentality when he is criticized. She brags that when Donald is criticized, “he will punch back 10 times harder” (her words). Melania does not seem to realize that the inability to handle criticism is a character flaw, and her husband’s insults (like calling someone “a low IQ person”) are disgusting. We should strive to make each person’s time on earth as long and as pleasant as possible. Insults violate that moral principle.

Bill BaileyKingwood

POOR BETO O’ROURKE

Dear Editor:

Recently, Beto O’Rourke was quoted in Business Insider during an interview with Chuck Todd as saying, “As a white man who has had privileges that others could not depend on, or take for granted, I’ve clearly had advantages over the course of my life … I think recognizing that and understanding that others have not, doing everything I can to ensure that there is opportunity and the possibility for advancement and advantage for everyone, is a big part of this campaign and a big part of the people who comprise this campaign.” Commence the groveling about “white privilege.”